General

I'm new, what should I read first?

What are #eclipse and #eclipse-dev about?

#eclipse is about development with Eclipse (for development of Eclipse, please see #eclipse-dev). log

#eclipse-dev is about development of Eclipse (for development with Eclipse, please see #eclipse). Unless you are asking a question about how to contribute a fix to a bug or a feature enhancement, ask your Eclipse-related questions on #eclipse. The fact of the matter is that there are a lot more people there than on #eclipse-dev.

I am looking for help with developing with Eclipse. Should I ask on #eclipse or #eclipse-dev?

Probably #eclipse as long as your question relates to Eclipse usage or plug-in/RCP development. If the issue is purely a language issue unrelated to Eclipse, you should find a more appropriate channel that deals with that programming language. For example, freenode has a ##java channel for Java-related questions. You will need to be registered to nickserv to enter that channel though.

If you are using Linux, please consider visiting #fedora-java, #gentoo-java, and #ubuntu-java for distribution-specific questions.

Nobody is answering my question. What should I do?

First, be patient, the person that has an answer for you may be busy at the moment. Then please continue being patient as that person may be in another time zone. Be polite and gentle or you may be politely ignored. If nobody answers, it may just be that nobody knows the answer. You will have to do some research on your own. The Eclipse newsgroups are a good place, as well as Eclipse's Bugzilla system. Remember that search engines are your best friends, and good luck! For those that have some idea of a possible solution, please do not hesitate to speak up!

Note also that not every project has experts or users who idle on IRC. So, here's a few other ways to get help:

Installation, Startup and Runtime

Where can I get Eclipse?

Use the downloads page to get the latest releases. The comparison page provides a breakdown of the projects/components included in each of the pre-configured packages (eg., for Java, JEE/Web, C/C++, or RCP/Plug-in developers).

You can install additional components from within Eclipse either through the Installation Manager (see Help → Install New Software or the Marketplace Client).

You can use services such as Yoxos OnDemand to pick and choose Eclipse components to create a custom distribution on the fly.

I don't want multiple Eclipse installations. How do I merge those packages into one?

How do I verify my download? Are there any MD5 or SHA1 hashes for me to verify my download against?

Eclipse.org offers MD5 and SHA1 hashes for the downloads on the main downloads page. Click the 'More...' link for the download you are interested in and then find the 'Checksums...' link on the right hand side.

-noexit - when Eclipse closes, keep the OSGi console running until you type 'exit' or hit CTRL-C so you can keep debugging

See Where Is My Bundle? for an overview of how to use the OSGi console for diagnosing problems.

Debugging Eclipse Using Eclipse

You can also debug an Eclipse instance from another instance through remote debugging:

Start the instance to be debugged with "-vmargs -Xdebug -agentlib:jdwp=transport=dt_socket,server=y,address=8000". You should see a message like "Listening for transport dt_socket at address: 8000"

Open Run → Debug Configurations... and create a Remote Java Application configuration with connection type "Socket Attach" and connecting to the client at port 8000. Set the project to a bundle project with the right dependencies for the bundles that you are trying to debug.

Shared Installation Problems

Helios/3.6 only: If the installation seemed to have completed successfully but you can't seem to find anything in the user interface, you may be seeing a problem with a shared installation setup problem with Eclipse. See bug 322929 for more details. This bug will likely manifest itself if you, for example, unzipped Eclipse in the Program Files folder or some place like /opt/ or /usr/local. The Helios SR1 (Eclipse Platform 3.6.1) release should have this problem fixed. We recommend upgrading immediately.

How do I find out which Java runtime environment is being used to run my Eclipse?

Can I upgrade from Eclipse 3.2 (Callisto) to Eclipse 3.3 (Europa)?

Yes and no.

It depends on what plugins you use and if they have been updated to work with the new version of the platform. If you used projects that were part of Callisto and which are now part of Europa, the answer is most likely yes. Some plugins will work on Eclipse 3.0 - 3.3 without any problems. Others are version-specific because they exploit aspects of Eclipse that were added or changed along the way (such as internal APIs not intended to be extended).

To upgrade, download a copy of Eclipse or a Europa bundle (see above). Extract the downloaded archive into its own directory (do not extract it into an existing eclipse directory), start up the new Eclipse and point it at your old workspace. If you see a message like 'cannot restore perspective' then something that your old workspace relied on (eg., some view contributed by some plugin) is not working anymore, and you'll have to search for an updated version from that plugin's provider.

If you installed features/plugins outside your Eclipse folder, you can reuse them via Help > Software Updates > Manage Configuration > Add an Extension Location to point your new Eclipse at those old plugins. However, those plugin folders must have an .eclipseextension file in them for Eclipse to accept them, and as noted above, they may not work without being updated. Details on using .link files and Extension Locations here and here.

If you use JRE/JDK1.4 with Eclipse 3.2, you may need to update to JRE/JDK5.0 as some Europa components require JDK5.0 (eg., WTP, TPTP, EMF).

Can I use my Eclipse workspace from an old release with a new Eclipse release?

Yes and no.

Your project files are compatible, but some of your settings may not be. You might want to export your settings from the old workspace before attempting to open it with the new Eclipse, then import them into the new Eclipse. For example, Window > Preferences... > Java > Code Style > Formatter > Edit > Export.

You might also want to start a completely new workspace and use File > Import > Existing Projects into Workspace to migrate the old projects into the new workspace. They can be copied or simply linked (referenced) in their old workspace location.

Make sure that your selected JDK is the one being used when starting Eclipse by passing in the -vm flag.

eclipse -vm /full/path/to/java/bin/java

It is usually desirable to place this option in your eclipse.ini file so you don't have to type it every time you start Eclipse. If you do append it onto your eclipse.ini file, you should make sure that it appears before the -vmargs line, if you have one. Also note that -vm and the /full/path/to/java/bin/java are on separate lines.

The argument must point to the java or javaw executable, not some wrapper script like run-java-tool, as used by the Gentoo Linux distribution.

Please note that if you are on a 64-bit system and have a 64-bit JRE installed, you will need to use a 64-bit Eclipse build. If you wish to use a 32-bit Eclipse build, please use a 32-bit JRE. Mismatches will cause Eclipse to not start properly. Please see bug 221969 if you are interested in this mismatch problem.

Note also that there are differences between ext2/ext3 filesystems and fat32 ones. Eclipse includes a lot of long file paths, .dotfiles, and case sensitive files. If you plan to use Eclipse on linux, unpacking it onto an ext2 or ext3 filesystem is recommended.

I just installed Eclipse on my 64-bit system, but it does not start. What is the problem?

Make sure that you have downloaded the 64-bit version of Eclipse (it should have x86_64 somewhere in its name) and have installed a 64-bit JVM. Likewise, if you run a 32-bit JVM, then you should use the 32-bit version of Eclipse.

When I try to install a plug-in, I get a "Cannot connect to keystore." error, what should I do?

Check that you are not using GCJ to run Eclipse. This problem may also surface if you are using IcedTea or an OpenJDK 6 build.

Install Java 6 from Sun and use that to run Eclipse instead.

When I start Eclipse it says "Workspace in use or cannot be created, choose a different one.", what should I do?

There are a couple of things you can try.

Delete the workspace/.metadata/.lock file.

Check your running processes to make sure there aren't any remaining Java or Eclipse processes running. When in doubt, restart your computer. :)

Try starting Eclipse on a different workspace (from the workspace selection dialog, or by using a command line argument like -data /home/user/tmp-workspace), then switch back to your original workspace.

If none of these solution work, could you be trying to create the workspace on a folder mounted via NFS? If yes, please make sure you are using NFS v4.

How do I copy plugins between Eclipse installations with p2?

To copy plugins from installation A to B you can do the following:

Start A

Go to Help->Install new Software

Add a new local update site that points to <path_to_B_eclipse>/p2/org.eclipse.equinox.p2.engine/profileRegistry/<profile>.profile/

Untick the 'Group items by category' checkbox and optionally tick 'Hide items that are already installed'

How do I install PDT?

How do I install a plug-in with multiple dependencies?

There are numerous approaches here, depending on your need and starting point.

The simplest is to grab the All-In-One bundle from the project's download site, if one is provided for your platform. Note too that if you're on a 64-bit platform and are using a 64-bit JRE, you will need a 64-bit bundle (which may not exist).

But if:

there's no OS-compatible All-In-One available, or

you already have Eclipse installed, and

you want to add a project to an existing Eclipse, then ...

...you'll need to either:

download the individual required projects (most download pages have a "Requirements" section you can use for reference, but this can still be a pain), or

Note that if you're installing from multiple update sites, you have to expand each one before you hit 'Select Required' for the wizard to be able to scan those sites and resolve all your dependencies. See bug 203473.

How do I uninstall a plug-in?

You can view your list of installed software by checking your installation details from about dialog.

Help > About > Installation Details

I'm getting "Network is unreachable" error messages when I'm trying to use the provisioning system on a Debian/Debian-based system. What should I do?

There's a setting that has been introduced regarding IPv6 that is causing this problem. Please check Debian's bug tracking system for more information.

Crashers, Freezing, and other Major Issues

Do you have any hs_err_pid*log files lying around? This is an error log that is generated by HotSpot, Sun's implementation of the Java Virtual Machine (assuming that is the JVM you are using). HotSpot is also the JVM being used by the OpenJDK project, HotSpot is also being used by IcedTea (which has since been renamed to OpenJDK also).

Do your VM logs point to a problematic frame at libjvm.so or jvm.dll? Do you see any mentions of a Current CompileTask, possibly on AbstractDataTreeNode, ParameterizedMethodBinding, CCPTemplates, or PDOMCPPLinkage? If yes, you are likely seeing a very infamous bug in Oracle's Java 6 VM implementation. Try starting Eclipse with the most recent Java SE 6 or 7 release. Any Oracle JVM release between 1.6.0.3 and 1.6.0.9 (inclusive) are affected by this bug.

If in doubt, you should start Eclipse with the most recent Java SE 6 or 7 release, and tell Eclipse to start use that VM to start Eclipse with the -vm argument (./eclipse -vm /opt/sun-jdk-1.6.0.22/bin/java).

Eclipse gets past the splash screen but then an empty window appears / Eclipse is crashing on me whenever I initiate a browser component such as hovering over Java methods for javadoc tooltips...

There are a couple of possible causes to this problem.

If you have Firefox 4 installed, you should install WebKitGTK+. Alternatively, you can install an older version of XULRunner and ask Eclipse to use that XULRunner runtime. See the SWT FAQ for more information.

Otherwise, you want to check your workspace's log file (located in workspace/.metadata/.log, note the period in front of the folder and file name, this is the marker for hidden files on UNIX and UNIX-based systems) if you have one. If you do, you should search for the string -2147467262, the full error will be something like org.eclipse.swt.SWTError: XPCOM error -2147467262. If you have this problem, you should refer to bug 213194 and its other variants. This is caused by an incompatibility between the version of XULRunner detected by Eclipse and Eclipse itself. It is highly recommend that you uninstall any alpha or beta versions of XULRunner on your system since those are not supported. Alternatively, you can install a recent stable version of Firefox/XULRunner and point Eclipse at that particular runtime. See the SWT FAQ for more information. If possible, you should upgrade to Eclipse 4.2.x as soon as possible since the older releases are no longer under maintenance.

If you are seeing the problem with the empty window, that too should be resolved by what has been mentioned above. Please refer to bug 234910 for more information.

If you did not find the XPCOM error, did you find any references to libxul.so or xul.dll in those logs? Maybe you see a mention of NewLocalFile in there too? If yes, you have likely hit bug 236724. The cause of this problem is explained in bug 236724 comment 44. To workaround this problem in the 3.3.x line, you should take a look at bug 236724 comment 22. If you are comfortable using a newer build, you should try the most recent release or maintenance build. These builds can be found here.

The Java EE build for Eclipse Ganymede / Eclipse 3.4 does not run for me but the Eclipse Classic build starts up just fine...

Do you see something like -vm C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_07\bin\server\jvm.dll in the error dialog? If you are using a dll or so as an argument to -vm for starting up Eclipse, there may be problems, see bug 237652 for more information. You should be able to work around this problem by using the actual java binary as an argument to -vm.

Why does Eclipse hang for an extended period of time after opening an editor in Linux/gtk+?

There seems to be a bug in gtk+ 2.10 and 2.12 that is causing certain printing backends to hang. You can try to start Eclipse with the method suggested below. This should be supported in 3.3.1 (and up) maintenance builds and 3.4 and upwards.

./eclipse -vmargs -Dorg.eclipse.swt.internal.gtk.disablePrinting

You should consider taking a look at bug 215234 for more information. You may also want to refer to bug 346903 in GNOME's bugzilla system.

Eclipse is crashing for me when performing Subversion operations on Windows. I am using Subclipse.

Have you found any JVM error logs with a mentioning of the libapr-1.dll file? If yes, you have hit a DLL incompatibility problem raised by Subversion's use of the Apache Portable Runtime library. Please see Subclipse's FAQ entry about this for more information.

I'm having memory, heap, or permgen problems, what can I do?

Eclipse is constantly crashing for me on Linux and I have a lot of plug-ins installed. There is a mentioning of "too many open files".

With around 1000 plug-ins installed on Linux, Eclipse will crash due to an excessive amount of open files. Please see bug 238015 for more information. The best workaround at the moment is to add osgi.bundlefile.limit=600 in eclipe/configuration/config.ini.

Eclipse buttons in dialogs and other places are not working for me if I click them with the mouse. I also cannot see anything in the tree when I try to install updates. What's going on?

Are you using running on GTK+ 2.17.x/2.18.x? Try declaring the GDK_NATIVE_WINDOWS environment variable and see how that goes. (Note that for some folk this workaround causes other failures.)

$ export GDK_NATIVE_WINDOWS=true
$ ./eclipse

The latest version of GTK+ has altered the way it creates and handles windows on the X windowing system. This has introduced some problems due to the way SWT was managing the Z order of windows.

The buttons problem should be fixed in both the 3.6 stream and the 3.5.2 stream. Any 3.5.2 stream build newer than M20091118-0800 should include the fix. See bug 291257 for more information.

The tree problem is described by bug 290395. This has been fixed in the 3.6 stream. Any build newer than I20091201-2000 should include the fix. Please test it out to see if it resolves your problem. Pending community feedback, the fix may be backported to 3.5.2

Eclipse seems to be hanging on startup. How can I find out why?

If none of the solutions outlined in this section reveal the problem, then you can try debugging an Eclipse instance as a debug target from another Eclipse instance. This is surprisingly easy:

Start Eclipse in a "new" blank workspace (e.g., C:\TEMP\WS, or /tmp)

Create a new Debug configuration: Run -> Debug Configurations; then click on "Eclipse Applications" and select the New Launch Configuration.

If you believe it's something about a particular workspace, then set the workspace to your normal workspace.

If you believe the hang is caused by a particular plugin, disable the plugin and verify.

Launch and then see.

Using this approach, you can break with the debugger to see where hangs are occurring. You can also change the selection of plugins that the instance is launched with.

Update complains that it cannot find a repository

A number of Ubuntu/Linux users have complained about the update manager being unable to find a repository. There is an Ubuntu bug tracking the issue with several possible solutions. If none of those solutions resolve your issue:

Manually specify a mirror: this link returns an xml-encoded list of mirrors for the Galileo release; replace the "/releases/galileo" with the update location for other update sites.

Eclipse keeps running out of (permgen) memory when I use Oracle/Sun's Java 6 update 21 on Windows

The Eclipse launcher is currently ignoring the VM arguments in the eclipse.ini file due to the change in branding of the HotSpot VM from Sun to Oracle. The workaround is to set the argument directly via the command line or to append it to your shortcut/script.

After startup, i see only an empty Dialog - eclipse won't start

The workspace exited with unsaved changes in the previous session; refreshing workspace to recover changes.

So check if the file .snap exist in your Workbench-Folder on: .metadata/.plugins/org.eclipse.core.resources. Than remove, or rename the file and start eclipse again.

Eclipse

How do I create a project for an existing source directory?

If the source was already a project, use the File → Import → General → Existing Project into Workspace.

If the source has never been imported as a project previously, or you do not have the Eclipse project metadata, you have three ways to create a project:

Copy (or Import) the source into an existing project

Create a new project but placing the project on the existing source directory

Create a new project and link to the existing source

The following assumes a Java project, but other language toolings should behave similarly.

Option 1: Import the source into an existing project

There are two ways to import source into an existing project. If you do not have an existing project, create one using the File → New → Java Project wizard.

The first, and easiest, is to import folders and files by dragging them from the file system and dropping them into one of the navigation views, or by copying and pasting.

The second method is to use the Import wizard:

File → Import → File System

Specify the root of the source folder.

Specify the folder within the project where the files should be copied to. Typically you would choose the the 'src' directory in a Java project

Select Finish

Although you can select individual files, the directory hierarchy shown is duplicated in the destination exactly as shown. Although considered counter-intuitive to many, the folder-name of the source is included as part of the destination. If you are importing Java source code from .../project/src/com/example/..., you must specify the source directory as ".../project/src/com" to avoid "src" being included as the root.

Option 2: Create project on the existing source directory

File → New → Java Project

Untick the "Use default location" and specify the location of your source.

Click Next. JDT will examine the directory layout and propose build settings. If you specified the root of your source tree, then the class files will be placed alongside your source files. If you specify the parent of your source, then by default the class files will be placed in a sibling called 'bin'. These decisions can be altered in the build settings view.

Click Finish

Option 3: Create project and link to existing source

File → New → Java Project

Provide the project name, and then click Next

Select the Link additional source.

In the Link Source dialog, provide the location of where your source is found on disk (e.g., .../project/src), and the name of the linked folder within your new project (e.g., "src-linked").

Click Finish

Note that this approach causes the Eclipse metadata to be stored separately from the source files.

Where are Eclipse's log files located?

<workspace>/.metadata/.log

You can view this workspace log as a view if you have PDE installed on your computer (which you would if you have downloaded the Eclipse SDK). You can open that view via Window -> Show View -> Other -> PDE Runtime -> Error Log.

<eclipse install>/configuration/<sometimestamp>.log

<eclipse install>/configuration/org.eclipse.update/install.log

I was working on a project and doing something or other does not work. Where should I start?

Where are Eclipse preferences stored?

If you want to keep preferences from one version to the other, export them using File/Export/Preferences.

Preferences are stored in various places (this applies to Eclipse 3.1)

for each installation (but this may vary for multi-user installations), in files stored in <eclipse_home>/eclipse/configuration/.settings/ . There is typically one file per plugin, with a prefs extension. Note that very few plug-ins use installation-wide preferences.

for each workspace, in files stored in <workspace>/.metadata/.plugin/org.eclipse.core.runtime/.settings . There is typically one file per plugin, with a prefs extension.

for each project --for project-level settings -- in files stored in a .settings sub-directory of your project folder

Where are update site bookmarks stored?

It is within an XML file called <user_home>/.eclipse/org.eclipse.platform_3.1.2/configuration/org.eclipse.update/bookmarks.xml. Your Eclipse version may vary.

Where are my Eclipse plug-ins folder?

The plug-ins folder is <eclipse_home>/plugins. Starting with Eclipse 3.4, with the advent of p2, you should put plug-ins in the dropins/ folder.

If Content Assist still doesn't work, several other things can be the cause:

Non-English software or keyboards

Accessibility software such as screen readers

Background processes with key bindings

One known process that can interfere with CTRL-SPACE is Logitech's QuickCam10.exe. Upgrading to QuickCam 11 solves this problem. If you are not running this, try killing processes one by one until you get CTRL-SPACE back.

Why won't Content Assist work for my .xyz file type?

Make sure that you're opening the file with the correct editor. You may have several associated editors for a given file type, such as .php or .xml. Whatever was installed last is probably the default. If this is not your preferred editor, select:

Window > Preferences... > General > Editors > File Associations

and set a better default. Note that the last editor you used for a file will be used next time, so you might have to use Open With instead of Open to select the correct editor.

How to have a custom .php extension recognized by PDT (or .xml by the XML editor and other XML features, etc.)?

Some people like to change the standard .php extension of their php files to something else (e.g. ArsTechnica does it with their .ars).

If you do this, though, PDT probably won't recognize your php files (and many features including Syntax highlighting, Debugging, etc will be lost). In order to instruct Eclipse to treat your .xyz files as php content, you must go to:

Note: you'll also have to instruct your http server that .xyz are php content. With an Apache server, one way to do this is to add a configuration directive like "AddType application/x-httpd-php .xyz".

How do I manually assign a project Nature or BuildCommand?

Many tools now add an option to "add the xyz nature", usually via the project's context menu. If present, use that. If not, here's another approach:

Create a new project of the type you need (such as PHP project or Java project or Plugin project)

Open the Navigator view

Open that new project's .project file.

Copy the <nature>s and <buildCommand>s from that .project into your actual project's .project file.

How do I find out which workspace I currently have open?

You can append the -showLocation to your Eclipse shortcut/script or eclipse.ini file. If you are going to edit the eclipse.ini file, you should make sure that you put it on a new line that's before the -vmargs line (if such a line exists). Once you have restarted Eclipse, you should be able to see the path to your workspace in the Eclipse instance's window's title bar.

Why is Eclipse launching the current file I have open instead of whatever I last launched?

Eclipse 3.3 introduced a new feature named "Contextual Launching" which launches whatever you are currently working on or viewing. To get the old behaviour back wherein you always launch whatever you last launched, go to Window > Preferences > Run/Debug > Launching and then under Launch Operation select Always launch the previously launched application.

How do I configure Eclipse to use a black background with a white font?

For a consistent look, you have to use an operating system theme with a black background and white fonts. Alternatively, you can try setting the following preferences in eclipse:

Where do I find the javadoc for the Eclipse API locally? I don't always want to load stuff up in a browser.

Cut/Copy/Paste does not appear to be working properly on Linux. It's not often that I have to invoke the keyboard shortcut multiple times for it to take effect. What's the deal here?

You may be seeing an issue that's been logged to Eclipse as bug 153809 that appears to be caused by having Klipper or Glipper open. Please try disabling or closing the application and see if it resolves your problems.

How do I check for the command line invocation that Eclipse used to launch an application?

Can projects exist outside of the workspace's folder?

Yes. Contrary to what many users are lead to believe, projects can physically exist outside of the workspace's folder. When you try to create a new project, you should be able to change the location of the project (and not have it be created in the workspace). If this change is not possible, it would be a missing feature and it is recommended to log the issue against the offending Eclipse plug-in.

You can also import projects via 'File > Import > General > Import Existing Projects into the Workspace'. Be sure to uncheck the copy checkbox at the bottom after selecting the source folder.

How do I change the list of workspaces listed under the 'Switch Workspace' submenu?

Starting in Eclipse 3.5, there is a preference page for this. See 'General > Startup and Shutdown > Workspaces'.

If you are in an older version of Eclipse, you can modify the eclipse/configuration/.settings/org.eclipse.ui.ide.prefs file by hand.

How do I recover my saved passwords from the .keyring file?

The code snippet below should be able to help you. You may also wish to refer to this page.

The code below is largely copy and pasted from org.eclipse.core.internal.runtime.auth.AuthorizationDatabase, org.eclipse.core.internal.runtime.auth.CipherInputStream, and org.eclipse.core.internal.runtime.auth.Cipher.

My line delimiter changes are not being persisted to the file. What's going on?

Black background color for tooltips on Linux/Ubuntu/GTK

Use Eclipse 3.6 or higher, this was caused by a bug in SWT (bug 309907). If it still happens check your theme settings. On Ubuntu 10.04, the default color scheme of the 'Radiance' theme for tooltips is white text on black background (see System > Preferences > Appearance > Theme > Colours > Tooltips). Here is the bug on the matter on Ubuntu's Launchpad.

In Ubuntu 11.10 and 12.04 there is no interface to change the color scheme of the theme, so it may be useful to edit the gtkrc file in '/usr/share/themes/<yourtheme>/gtk-2.0/' to set the tooltip background and foreground colors. E.g. 'tooltip_fg_color:#000000' & 'tooltip_bg_color:#E6E6FA'.

You can also install and open gnome-color-chooser: Go to Specific > Tooltips and put black foreground over pale yellow background.

Excessive tab folder height on Linux/Ubuntu/GTK

Tab folder height is calculated by the height of toolbars which can have padding in GTK themes. To fix this, edit '/usr/share/themes/<yourtheme>/gtk-2.0/gtkrc'. Look for:

GtkToolbar::internal-padding = 1

How can I easily migrate settings and preferences between my Eclipse workspaces?

How do I swap between different programs' output in the 'Console' view? How do I open another 'Console' view?

Java Development Tools (JDT)

The javadoc for the standard Java classes does not show up as context help. What is the problem? Should I download the javadocs?

To get the standard java javadoc to display in hover and context help in the Eclipse java editor, you need to run a JDK . Eclipse retrieves the javadoc from the JDK java sources. The sources are bundled with a JDK but not with a JRE. The file containing the sources in the SUN JDK is src.zip.

What do you mean by 'run a JDK'?

The problem is that I've got unpacked java docs (and in archive too) at the proper location in the JDK dir and it is not displayed when working on java project...moreover javadoc specific to project is shown properly!

You need either to have the JDK set as the Java Runtime for your project or workspace, or have started Eclipse with that JDK. Make sure that the root dir of your JDK installation contains a file called src.zip.

But it still does *not* work! Help me!

Make sure that you have selected the JDK in your workspace or project preferences. For the workspace check under Windows -> Preferences -> Java -> Installed JREs. For a project, check the project's properties. Also remember to check any launch configurations under Run -> Run Configurations...

But I'm on MacOS X which comes with the JDK

The Java installation that comes with MacOS X (10.6 and prior) or is installed (10.7 and later) does not include the source bundle. To see the JDK source, you need to first install the Apple-supplied Java Developer Update for your OS from Apple's Developer Site (requires an Apple ID). In 10.7 and later (and perhaps 10.6 too?), these JDKs are installed in /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines as {jvm-version}.jdk.

For JRE home, add /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/{jvm-version}.jdk/Contents/Home where {jvm-version}}.jdk is the directory corresponding to your newly-installed JVM. Note that the Contents/Home is essential.

Select Finish to return to the Installed JREs dialog.

Tick your newly added JDK to make it the default JRE. This will likely trigger a rebuild.

The second option is to configure your existing JRE to fetch source from the src.jar included in your newly-installed JDK. Note that the debugger may not show the exact source location.

Open Preferences → Java → Installed JREs, select the default JRE, and then click on the Edit... button.

In the "JRE system libraries" section, select the "classes.jar". If you expand the arrow, it should show Source attachment: (none)

Click on the Source Attachment... button on the right

In the location path, specify /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/{jvm-version}.jdk/Contents/Home/src.jar

You may need to repeat the above for any other jar that is installed as part of this JRE. Note that such jars may only be shipped in binary form, with no source available.

How do I override the environment variables that Ant uses during execution?

On the 'JRE' tab choose 'Separate JRE'. Select the required JRE from the list.

On the 'Environment' tab, click 'Select' button then pick the variables you want to override from the list and click OK. Click 'Edit' to change values.

Why is Content Assist not working in the Java editor? Why doesn't Eclipse recognize my .java file as a Java file?

Please try the following steps:

Window > Preferences... (for Mac users: Eclipse > Preferences...)

Navigate to Java > Editor > Content Assist > Advanced

Ensure that all the entries in the uppermost list are checked.

Click 'Okay'.

Now check whether content assist is working again.

Note that for Eclipse to treat a .java file as a Java file with full syntax highlighting and code completion, it must be in a Java or Plug-in project, and located in a properly-defined source folder. Right-click your project's root folder and select properties to add more source folders if necessary, or move your file into the src/ tree.

Try creating a new Java project, then pasting your file into the src/ folder tree; or, try a new workspace (File > Switch Workspace... on a non-existent folder).

How do I alter my package representation so that parent packages are housing child packages?

I clicked on something and now I can only see the method that I am currently editing. What do I do? Did I lose my entire file?

I would like code completion to be activated as I type like how it works in Visual Studio? Can I turn this on somewhere?

No, this is currently not implemented. Please refer to bug 101420 "[content assist] auto-activation everywhere". You may also want to look at bug 159157, specifically bug 159157 comment 12 for a work-around.

I've been told that Eclipse has its own Java compiler, is this true? Can I use Sun's javac instead?

Yes, Eclipse's JDT project has its own compiler, named ECJ (Eclipse Compiler for Java). ECJ is the compiler that will be used when you save or invoke builds from within Eclipse. If you wish to use the javac compiler instead, you will have to use Apache Ant instead. On a slightly related topic, it is also possible to have Ant build with ECJ instead of with javac.

I call System.console() in my code but null is returned. It does work in the command line though. What's going on?

I get an unhandled event loop exception in my console. What gives?

A plug-in in my 'Eclipse Application' launch configuration is listed as being "out of sync", what should I do?

I added a jar to my classpath, but it's not being found! What should I do?

You cannot simply add jar files to plugin projects (aka bundles in OSGi terminology) as you would with normal Java projects. Plugin projects must instead declare their dependencies in their MANIFEST.MF. The Plugin Development Environment (PDE) provides tooling for managing these dependencies file, and then transforms the plugin's MANIFEST.MF into a classpath that JDT can work with. But that JDT classpath is only used for editing within Eclipse; PDE applies another transformation to set up the classpath used for a runtime workspace.

How do I find the source for a plugin?

Plugins are automatically hooked up into the Java Search by JDT when they are referenced as a dependency of a project open in a workspace. Many plugins have corresponding source bundles that are usually included as part of an "SDK" feature. Often the simplest approach is then:

Ensure you have installed the appropriate SDK feature with Help > Install New Software

Add the required plugins as a dependency of one of your projects.

If you wish to examine the source for a plugin that is not a dependency, then you need to explicitly add those plugins to the Java Search path:

The contents of those plugins should now be available through Java Search, Open Type... and other JDT facilities.

How do I edit the source for a plugin?

If you wish to be able to edit the source code for a plugin, you may be able to simply import the source bundle as a proper project within your workspace.

Open the "Plug-ins" view.

Select the appropriate plugins, right-click and select "Import As > Source Project" menu to bring in those plugins into your workspace.

Many plugins now ship with appropriate metadata to actually check out the source code from the corresponding version control system. In this case you can use Import As > Project from a Repository....

Otherwise it will be necessary to visit the corresponding project's page and look for its development information to find out how to access the project's source repositories. Many Eclipse projects have now switched to Git, and those repositories are listed in an easily searchable form.

SWT

I cannot get the SWT widget ABC to work when I do XYZ. Could you help me?

Check the SWT Snippets section, there might be a code example that demonstrates what you are trying to do.here.

I cannot get Mozilla to run on Linux as an embedded browser?

I cannot get Firefox to run on Linux as an embedded browser?

Firefox is not supported as embedded browser on Linux for now. Take a look at bug #72487.

On some Linux distributions that dynamically link Firefox (like Ubuntu and Fedora), Firefox will work.

CVS

I am having some trouble with CVS in eclipse -- is there a way I can get actual logs and see detailed error messages?

Open the console view and select CVS from the triangle drop-down in the console toolbar.

Where are the CVS repositories locations stored?

In <workspace>/.metadata/.plugin/org.eclipse.team.cvs.ui/repositoriesView.xml . Previously used commit comments are in commitCommentHistory.xml.

Subversion

What plug-ins are there for Subversion integration?

You can try either Subclipse or Subversive. Don't ask us which one is better. Some people use Subclipse, some people use Subversive.

I just installed Subversion on Mac/Linux, and then I installed Subclipse, but it does not work. What is the problem?

Verify that the version of Subclipse matches the version of Subversion that you have installed. Try uninstalling Subversion and configuring Subclipse's preferences to run JavaSVN. Take a look at the Subclipse FAQ and the JavaHL FAQ. Ask on #subclipse for additional assistance.

I am trying to use svn+ssh:// with Subclipse, and it does not work?

Generally speaking, the JavaSVN adapter in the Team/SVN preferences will yield better results when using svn+ssh. See: Subclipse support for SVN protocols for detailed information.

I've upgraded to Gallileo, but Subversive can't read my projects

It seems the versions of Subversive for Ganymede and Gallileo use different versions of the SVNKit plugin. Backing out to a previous version of SVNKit 1.3.2 may solve the issue.